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Saga Eternity

A new year has dawned for the Gokstad ship and time for the big adventure to begin.

To start on this adventure, a Renaming Ceremony will be held for the Jorgen Jorgenson on the coming autumnal equinox, March 20th 2014. With its breath of new life, the time has come for a new name and a purpose, and we want our community and friends to be part of this event. We want to foster a stronger, closer connection with our community and make our ship a relevant symbol of our shared future.

Our sister ship in Norway, the Gaia, is named after the goddess of the Earth and has long been a messenger for environmental causes. It began with its historic journey from Oslo, Norway to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for the first United Nations Earth Summit in 1992. The Gaia carried letters from children to the earth summit.

The name chosen by PHBC is Aegir. ‘Aegir’ is Old Norse for ‘sea giant’ and the name of the Norse god of the oceans. The public will be invited to sign a banner to be hoisted up the ships’ mast during the ceremony.

As the Viking naming traditions are lost to us today, we will have to create our own ceremony for the event and we want our community to be a part of it. We also want an environmentally themed logo or emblem for the ship’s banner. If you have any ideas or designs to contribute head over to our event page on facebook (https://www.facebook.com/events/247449158759794/) and leave a comment. We’ll be monitoring your suggestions over the coming weeks. Our vessel is one of only a handful of its kind in the world – there won’t be many ceremonies like this one for a long time..